2010/06/11: BBC: Gulfs remain after UN climate change talks in BonnUN climate talks have ended, with delegates speaking of an improved mood but with major gulfs remaining between various blocs. A last-minute spat between Russia and Japan and the G77 bloc of developing countries showed the differing goals in play at the talks in Bonn.

2010/06/11: EurActiv: Oil nations block switch to 1.5°C climate goalTwo weeks of climate talks in Bonn saw developing countries launch a new push to agree on stricter targets for halting global warming, only for the deal to be killed by Saudi Arabia. The blow came as new data showed that loopholes in pledges would allow rich countries to increase their emissions.

2010/06/10: Reuters: New U.N. climate text omits deepest 2050 carbon cutsNegotiators from 185 nations end two weeks of talks on a new climate treaty on Friday with a new blueprint for a pact that omits the most draconian options for greenhouse gas cuts by 2050.[…]The new text, issued shortly before midnight (2200 GMT) on Thursday, is meant as a blueprint to guide negotiators to overcome rifts between rich and poor nations when they reconvene at a next session in early August in Bonn. It outlines a goal of cutting world emissions of greenhouse gases by “at least 50-85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050″ and for developed nations to cut emissions by at least 80-95 percent from 1990 levels by mid-century. The text drops far more radical options, championed by Bolivia in the previous draft, for a cut of at least 95 percent in world emissions by 2050 and for rich nations to cut their emissions by “more than 100 percent by 2040.”

2010/06/11: IndiaTimes: Bonn talks clearing doubts on measuring, reporting & verificationBonn: The villain of the piece in 2009 — measuring, reporting and verification or MRV — appears to have been vanquished to some degree during this current round of talks. In a positive move, consensus has been reached on the periodicity of the information provided by the developing countries to the UNFCCC on the efforts made to deal with climate change. Differences persist on the issue of how to undertake “international consultation and analysis” on domestically supported actions by developing countries as agreed to in the Copenhagen Accord.

2010/06/10: TerraDaily: Despite pledges, world still heading for 3C warming: studyThe world is careering towards three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming by 2100 despite headline-making promises to curb carbon emissions, a study released at UN talks here said on Thursday. “The current pledges and loopholes give us a virtual certainty of exceeding 1.5 C (2.7 F), with global warming very likely exceeding 2 C (3.6 F) and a more than 50-percent chance of exceeding 3 C (5.4 F) by 2100,” said Bill Hare of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

2010/06/11: TerraDaily: Climate: Saudis block call for warming reportSaudi Arabia on Thursday blocked a call by vulnerable island states at climate talks for a study into the impact of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming, delegates said. The appeal came from the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), gathering low-lying islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, which is lobbying hard for the UN climate arena not to abandon the 1.5 C target. The goal is receding as emissions of greenhouse gases rise and political problems for tackling climate change multiply. AOSIS, supported by the European Union (EU), Australia and New Zealand, called for a technical report on the cost of reaching the 1.5 C target and the consequences of breaching it. But it was thwarted by Saudi Arabia, with support from Kuwait and Qatar, under the UN’s consensus rule, the sources said.

2010/06/10: BBC:RB: Bonn’s obscured climate vision[…]A comprehensive, global, legally-binding deal in Cancun this December is still sought by many smaller developing countries.But China doesn’t want it – at least not on terms the West would accept – there appears to be little appetite among other major players such as Russia and Japan, and as for the US – well, it’s a sign of how fast things have turned around since Barack Obama’s election that some delegates are saying the US is now a bigger obstacle than it was under George W Bush.So if not a global deal in Cancun, what then?

2010/06/10: EurActiv: De Boer passes on UN climate negotiation batonAs the latest round of talks draw to a close, outgoing UN climate chief Yvo de Boer warned of slow progress in the negotiations, leaving his successor with the daunting task of concluding a new global climate treaty in 2011. EurActiv reports from Bonn. UN climate talks will end in Bonn on Friday (11 June) with little achievements made, leaving only two weeks of official negotiating time before the December high-level conference in Cancún, Mexico.

2010/06/10: IndiaExp: Climate talks: Need to go back to basics, say India, ChinaWith little progress being made in the climate talks underway in Bonn for the past one and half weeks, India and China Wednesday stressed on the need to go back to basics and re-start the process from the first principles enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). With just three days of talks left, lead negotiators from India and China said there were two issues that needed to be addressed: rebuilding of the trust that was destroyed in Copenhagen; and re-aligning the talks with the fundamental principles that have been guiding the climate debate through the last two decades.

2010/06/10: IndiaTimes: Climate change: No solution at hand on funds for developing countriesBonn: Providing adequate amount of money to help developing countries to slow down climate change continues to be a stumbling block at the negotiating process in Bonn. There are two parts to the finance knot: The short-term or fast-track financing of $30 billion by 2012 and the long-term or mobilising of funds to the tune of $100 billion annually by 2020. At Bonn, developing countries have expressed scepticism about fast-track finance.

2010/06/09: BBC: New UN climate chief Christiana Figueres calls for more ambitionThe incoming head of the UN climate convention has said rich nations must pledge bigger emission cuts if climate change is to be tackled effectively. But Christiana Figueres said she was confident that leaders would meet the challenge “because humanity has to meet it – we don’t have another option.” Ms Figueres was speaking at a two-week session of UN negotiations in Bonn. She said the mood was “constructive”; but major differences are evident between different groups of countries.

2010/06/08: Reuters: World to fail in deep climate cuts this decade – U.N.The world is set to fail to make deep enough cuts in greenhouse gases in the next decade to tackle global warming, the U.N.’s top climate official said on Monday in a bleak assessment of the prospects for a U.N. deal. Despite his gloomy short-term outlook, Yvo de Boer, who will step down on July 1 after about four years in the job, expressed confidence governments would eventually enact sufficiently tough goals, such as an emissions cut by rich nations of 80 percent by 2050.

2010/06/07: Grist: 10 years needed to agree on global climate action, says U.N. pointman [Yvo de Boer]The world community may need another 10 years to agree on carbon cuts deep enough to roll back global warming, the U.N.’s pointman for climate change warned on Monday. “I don’t see the process delivering adequate mitigation targets in the next decade,” Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in a webcast from Bonn. “Over the longer term, I think we will get this issue under control. Having said that, I do believe that it’s a longer journey.”

2010/06/06: National(AE): Brazil buries carbon planA proposal supported by the UAE to fund the fight against climate change by burying carbon pollution underground has been blocked by a powerful, perhaps insurmountable foe: Brazil. Climate negotiators are in the German city of Bonn this week debating a stalled proposal to award UN-administered carbon credits to projects that capture and bury carbon dioxide.

2010/06/10: BBC: Rich countries accused of carbon ‘cheating’Some rich countries are seeking new rules under the UN climate convention that campaigners say would allow them to gain credit for “business as usual”. Russia, Australia, Canada and some EU countries are among the accused. The rules relate to land-use change, which can either release or absorb carbon, depending mainly on whether forests are planted or chopped down. Rich countries, apart from the US, could account for about 5% of their annual emissions through this loophole.

2010/06/10: CanWest: Poor nations demand climate pact in 2010Many developing nations insisted at UN climate talks yesterday that a full UN treaty should be agreed in 2010 even though others are resigned to a far longer haul to tackle global warming. “This is about our survival”, said Collin Beck of the Solomon Islands. He is vice-chair of the Alliance of Small Island States which fears a creeping rise in world sea levels caused by global warming. He said his group insisted a treaty should be agreed at the next annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, Nov. 29 to Dec. 10. Many rich nations and some major emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil at talks being held in Bonn from May 31 to June 11 reckon that a legally binding deal may have to wait, perhaps until a next meeting of senior negotiators in 2011 in South Africa.

2010/06/08: Reuters: Trade, human rights seen aiding UN climate dealA planned U.N. climate deal might adapt systems for monitoring trade or human rights as models to check up on poor nations’ curbs on greenhouse gases, Mexico’s climate chief said on Tuesday. Luis Alfonso de Alba, whose country will host this year’s main climate talks in Cancun from November 29-December 10, said a review system could help the world towards a U.N. climate treaty after the 2009 Copenhagen summit fell short of a binding deal.

2010/06/08: EurActiv: [Danish Energy and Climate Change Minister Lykke] Friis: ‘Climate depression’ is over, full speed to CancúnCountries negotiating to deliver an international climate deal are back in business and both Denmark and Mexico, the outgoing and incoming chairs of the UN-led talks, are developing a “GPS system” to successfully reach their destination on time by December, Danish Energy and Climate Change Minister Lykke Friis told EurActiv in an interview. “A lot of negotiators and ministers were suffering from climate depression after Copenhagen … But now, I think we have moved ahead,” Friis said, explaining that a number of steps in the right direction had been taken.

2010/06/12: BBC: Polar science diaryScience writer and broadcaster Sue Nelson is at the world’s largest polar science conference, which is taking place in Oslo, Norway from 8-12 June. Experts have gathered to discuss everything polar – from penguins and sea ice to permafrost and Inuit communities.

2010/06/09: IPY-OSC: Rising sea levels on the agendaSea levels may rise by as much as one metre before the end of this century, according to new predictions. Melting glaciers may contribute more to the rise in sea levels than scientists have previously realised.

2010/06/07: FT: IEA counts $550bn energy support billThe world economy spends more than $550bn in energy subsidies a year, about 75 per cent more than previously thought, according to the first exhaustive study of the financial assistance devoted to oil, natural gas and coal consumption. The study by the International Energy Agency, the western countries’ oil watchdog, says phasing out subsidies over the medium term, as agreed last year by the G20, would trigger vast savings in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

2010/06/07: BWeek: Ending Fossil-Fuel Aid Will Cut Oil Demand, IEA SaysFatih Birol, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist, called on leaders of the Group of 20 Nations to fulfill their pledge to end fossil-fuel subsidies, a move he said will cut oil demand and greenhouse-gas emissions. Stopping aid by 2020 would reduce global oil demand by 6.5 million barrels a day, he said, or about a third of the current U.S. use. Subsidies that promote consumption, such as below- market gasoline prices, totaled $557 billion in 2008, he said. Nations that use them the most include China, Venezuela, Egypt Iraq and Iran, according to IEA surveys.

2010/06/09: ODT(NZ): Climate row undermining confidence, PM’s scientist saysThe public debate over the science of climate change is being framed in a way that undermines confidence in the science system, says a senior advisor to Prime Minister John Key. “The public is confused about what we know and what we do not know about the science, and is unsure whether governments are justified in making hard decisions, despite the science not being certain,” said the PM’s science advisor Sir Peter Gluckman. “There is a growing concern among those of us who have some role in marrying science and policy that the way the debate is being framed is undermining confidence in the science system,” he told a Victoria University seminar series on key policy challenges facing New Zealand. There was a high level of denial and scepticism in the broader community, driven by a variety of motives. Comparable situations had included the arguments over tobacco and cancer, evolution and creation, and the HIV-AIDs denial movement.

2010/06/08: CBC: Iceberg melting sinks sculpture projectSculptures by Dutch artist Ap Verheggen are sitting under 500 metres of water, after the iceberg on which they were placed melted too quickly. Verheggen set the two sculptures Dog Sled Riders adrift on an iceberg off Greenland to draw attention to climate change. But global warming happened a little too quickly for the artist, whose project is supported by the World Wildlife Fund. The iceberg was to take several years to float down the Davis Strait to Newfoundland and Labrador, after calving from the Greenland glacier in March. But an average high temperature record for the Arctic was set in May and the iceberg collapsed in a matter of months.

2010/06/09: CBC: NASA to launch Arctic mission[…]More than 40 scientists will spend five weeks on board the Coast Guard Cutter Healy, the most technologically advanced polar icebreaker in the U.S. […] Scientists will sample physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and sea ice.

2010/06/08: CanWest: Manitoba polar bear population facing collapse, scientists sayNorthern Manitoba’s celebrated polar bear population is set to vanish in just a few short decades, two of the world’s top experts predict. The Western Hudson Bay subpopulation of polar bears, estimated at 935 animals in 2004, is expected to decline over the next30 years to the point where there are not enough bears to sustain a breeding population, says University of Alberta biologist Ian Stirling.

2010/06/10: ChronicleHerald: Canada-Russia relations thaw in ArcticThe Canadian government denounced it as a land-grabbing stunt when Russia planted its flag on the sea floor under the North Pole in 2007. But when federal Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl met the man who piloted the flag-bearing sub, the first thing Arthur Chilingarov did was invite him to a conference. “He was keen to work with us,” Strahl said Wednesday from Oslo, Norway, where he met Chilingarov this week. “I said, ‘Give me some more details.'” And that, Strahl said, is the new tone of Canada-Russia relations in the North. Instead of snarling over Arctic paratroop drops and bomber overflights, the two countries are now playing nice.

2010/06/10: PhysOrg: Study: Shrinking glaciers to spark food shortagesNearly 60 million people living around the Himalayas will suffer food shortages in the coming decades as glaciers shrink and the water sources for crops dry up, a study said Thursday. But Dutch scientists writing in the journal Science concluded the impact would be much less than previously estimated a few years ago by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The U.N. report in 2007 warned that hundred of millions of people were at risk from disappearing glaciers.

2010/06/11: PlanetArk: Ethanol Boom Sharply Cuts US Corn Surplus: USDAThe resurgent U.S. ethanol industry will use an additional 250 million bushels of corn through the next 15 months, dramatically reducing the corn surplus despite record crops, said the government on Thursday. Traders said the forecast of higher demand would boost corn prices. They had expected modest reductions in the corn stockpile instead of the Agriculture Department’s large cuts.

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

2010/06/11: PlanetArk: German Utilities Biggest Polluters In 2009: ReportGerman utilities RWE and E.ON were the top greenhouse gas emitters in Europe last year, a report said on Thursday. Analysts Carbon Market Data said power plants fully or partly owned by the two companies pumped out a total 235 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or more than Scandinavia’s total carbon emissions last year. Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland’s collective emissions in 2009 were around 234 million tonnes, according to Reuters estimates.

2010/06/10: TerraDaily: Despite pledges, world still heading for 3C warming: studyThe world is careering towards three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming by 2100 despite headline-making promises to curb carbon emissions, a study released at UN talks here said on Thursday. “The current pledges and loopholes give us a virtual certainty of exceeding 1.5 C (2.7 F), with global warming very likely exceeding 2 C (3.6 F) and a more than 50-percent chance of exceeding 3 C (5.4 F) by 2100,” said Bill Hare of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

2010/06/13: CapeCodOnline: Cape lobster industry faces crisis[…] In what could be the first major economic blow to local fisheries pinned on global warming, regulators are contemplating shutting down the lobster industry from Buzzards Bay to Long Island Sound for five years due to a drastic population drop brought on by temperature changes of just a few degrees in inshore waters.

2010/06/07: Examiner: Tornado rated an EF-3 (winds >136 mph); 8 dead; biggest outbreak in IL this yr; deadliest in 25 yrs8 tornadoes hit Michigan over the weekend. Severe Thunderstorm Watches are up this morning for southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Today, there is a slight risk for severe weather across eastern Utah, southern Wyoming, northern and eastern Colorado, much of Nebraska, northern Kansas, southwest Iowa, and northwest Missouri. At least 8 are dead from tornadoes over the weekend. BP said Monday that the cost of the response has reached about $1.25 billion. 11,000 barrels of oil have been collected from ruptured well in last 24 hours. Severe Weather Reports: Over 50 tornadoes were reported over the weekend across the Midwest. The EF-3 tornado that killed 7 in Ohio makes it the state’s deadliest in 25 years. Cass and Miami County, IN tornado near Grissom AFB also rated an EF-3. Saturday night’s tornado outbreak was the biggest in Illinois and the second biggest for the country this year. Over 50 tornadoes were reported in 6 states including Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Vermont.

2010/06/09: CBC: B.C.’s ancient reefs slated for protected statusA group of rare, glass sponge reefs off B.C.’s north coast have been selected for potential designation as marine protected areas, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea announced on Tuesday. B.C.’s living glass sponge reefs in Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound are the only reefs of their kind in the world, and the announcement was met with applause by conservation groups. The federal government has designated the reefs an area of interest, the first step towards permanent protection.

2010/06/11: BBC: Himalayan climate impacts ‘cannot be generalised’Melting glaciers in the Himalayas will have varying impacts on the region’s five major river basins, a study says. Changes to the flow of meltwater as a result of global warming is likely to have a “severe” impact on food security in some areas, say scientists. Yet people living elsewhere are likely to see food productivity increase, they added in a paper published in Science. Overall, the food security of 4.5% of 1.4bn people in the region is threatened, the researchers conclude. More than 1.4bn people depend on water from the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

2010/06/12: CBC: Arkansas flood rescuers hunt for missingRescue crews took to kayaks, horseback and ATVs at daybreak Saturday to resume the desperate search for dozens of people still missing after flash floods swept through a popular campground, killing at least 17 people. The surge along the Caddo and Little Missouri rivers came in the darkness before dawn Friday, catching sleeping campers in and around the Albert Pike Recreation Area by surprise, with little time to scramble to higher ground. Authorities don’t know how many people are missing. A registry that those using the campground were required to sign was washed away in the flood.

2010/06/09: PhysOrg: Cutting the Internet’s carbon footprintOver the last 20 years the Internet has grown from almost nothing to something of enormous economic and social value. But in the meantime, its consumption of electricity, which currently stands at 3% to 5% of the global supply, is increasing exponentially.

2010/06/06: National(AE): Brazil buries carbon planA proposal supported by the UAE to fund the fight against climate change by burying carbon pollution underground has been blocked by a powerful, perhaps insurmountable foe: Brazil. Climate negotiators are in the German city of Bonn this week debating a stalled proposal to award UN-administered carbon credits to projects that capture and bury carbon dioxide.

2010/06/07: Independent(UK): Radical plan to combat global warming ‘may raise temperatures’A controversial proposal to create artificial white clouds over the ocean in order to reflect sunlight and counter global warming could make matters worse, scientists have warned.[…]However, a study into the effects of creating man-made clouds which reflect sunlight and heat back into space has found that the strategy could end up having the opposite effect by interfering with the natural processes that lead to the formation of reflective white clouds over the ocean.

2010/06/09: PlanetArk: IETA Calls For EU-Wide Carbon Market MonitorA European carbon market monitoring authority could prevent abuse, the International Emissions Trading Association said on Tuesday, in a bid to help restore the already damaged reputation of the nascent market. A monitoring body in an existing EU regulatory structure such as the European Securities and Market Authority or the Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators could ensure more coordination and data exchange among national supervisors, IETA suggested in a report to the EU Commission.

2010/06/07: BBerg: Western U.S., Canadian Carbon Market [WCI] Faces Scaled-Back StartA proposed carbon cap-and-trade program for the western U.S. and parts of Canada is likely to start out smaller than planned because some state governments don’t have laws in place to join the regional emissions market. The Western Climate Initiative, comprised of seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, aims to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 15 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. Its centerpiece is a cap-and-trade program in which industrial polluters like power plants and oil refineries buy and sell carbon dioxide allowances. Of the U.S. states in the initiative, only California and New Mexico likely will be able to enforce the regional cap-and- trade program when it’s due to start in 2012, along with the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, Tim Cheung, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in a telephone interview.

2010/06/06: Reuters: China carbon market prospects not optimistic – officialAlthough China has supplied massive volumes of carbon credits to the global market, prospects for CO2 trade within the country itself are not optimistic, a senior climate official said on Sunday. Lu Xuedu, influential vice-head of China’s National Climate Centre and former member of the United Nations Executive Board responsible for approving clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, told a conference in Beijing that carbon transaction volumes within China were likely to remain low.

2010/06/10: CanWest: And still people resist a carbon tax[…]The problem, I think, is that people don’t realize how fundamental oil is to modern economies and they don’t realize how many different ways our dependence on oil hurts. Just consider the fact that the people who are most hawkish on Iran — and Russia, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia — tend to be conservatives who are totally opposed to a carbon tax or even a narrower tax on oil. Does that make sense? We’re the junkie and they’re the dealer, but conservatives oppose doing the one thing that could break our addiction and bankrupt the dealer. In darker moments I wonder if they’re on Ahmadinejad’s payroll.

2010/06/11: TheHill: Labor groups fight for transaction tax but face tough battle at G-20The labor movement is lobbying in Washington and overseas to win support for a financial transactions tax at the upcoming G-20 summit in Toronto. Their battle looks to be uphill. G-20 finance ministers dropped the proposal at a meeting last week after resistance from Canada. While European countries still favor a transaction tax and are considering going forward on their own, the tax appears unlikely to be addressed by world leaders in Toronto.

2010/06/11: WalesOnline: Climate change scepticism is on the riseClimate change scepticism is on the rise as people grow suspicious of scientists’ forecasts and motives, Welsh researchers have found. In a major study published today, the team of Cardiff University academics discovered that 22% of the population either did not know or did not believe the world’s climate is changing. Five years ago, that figure stood at just 9%.

2010/06/11: AlterNet: Tea Party Flacks Are Drill, Baby, Drill Messengers TooWhy are the hoppin’-mad Teabaggers so oddly quiet these days, ever since the BP oil disaster? That’s what Thomas Frank, author of What’s The Matter With Kansas? asked last week in his column, “Laissez-faire Meets The Oil Spill.” Ideologically, it’s painfully obvious why the Teabaggers are now the Teagaggers: their free-market gospel got mugged by oil-drenched reality — a reality so horrific that even pollster Frank Luntz couldn’t spin the BP disaster as the government’s fault. Best to just shut up when you’re that wrong.But there’s another, more concrete reason why the Tea Party revolutionaries melted back into their suburbs as soon as the enormity of the Gulf spill disaster hit: The Tea Party evolved out of the pro-offshore drilling astroturf movement in 2008. They even share some of the same organizers and front groups, from PR operative like Eric Odom, to advocacy groups like FreedomWorks…

2010/06/10: BWeek: Tenn. Senate nixes push to revive coal mining billThe state Senate on Wednesday defeated a parliamentary effort to resurrect a bill to curb mountaintop removal coal mining in Tennessee. The chamber voted 14-12 to reject the motion brought by Sen. Andy Berke. The Chattanooga Democrat said the vote would show the level of influence of the coal lobby on lawmakers. “Are you on the side of the coal lobby, or are you on the side of the Tennesseans who want this bill?” Berke said.

2010/06/08: BWeek: 10 eastern states join wind energy consortiumThe governors of 10 East Coast states have joined federal authorities to form a consortium that will promote the development of offshore wind energy. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday the establishment of the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium will promote safe and environmentally responsible development, enhance the nation’s energy security, and create jobs.

2010/06/11: CNN: Can Senate get climate change bill done?Sen. Richard Lugar introduces his energy and climate change plan this week – His plan is supported by fellow Republican Lindsey Graham – Graham had previously worked with Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman on their legislation – Graham hopes that Democrats and Republicans will find common ground

2010/06/09: NYT: A Call to Triple U.S. Spending on Energy ResearchThe United States is badly lagging in basic research on new forms of energy, deepening the nation’s dependence on dirty fuels and crippling its international competitiveness, a diverse group of business executives warn in a study to be released Thursday. The group, which includes Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft; Jeffrey R. Immelt, chief executive of General Electric; and John Doerr, a top venture capitalist, urges the government to more than triple spending on energy research and development, to $16 billion a year. And it recommends creation of a national energy board to guide investment decisions toward radical advances in energy technology.

2010/06/10: NYT: Senate Rejects Republican Effort to Thwart Carbon LimitsThe Senate on Thursday defeated a Republican-led effort to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from curbing greenhouse gases as lawmakers road-tested arguments for a future fight over climate change legislation. The Senate voted 53-47 to reject an attempt by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, to block the E.P.A. from imposing new limits on carbon emissions based on its 2009 finding that such gases from industry, vehicles and other sources represent a threat to human health and the environment.

2010/06/10: TheHill: Climate change showdownDemocratic leaders are scrambling to prevent the Senate from delivering a stinging slap to President Barack Obama on climate change. They have offered a vote on a bill they dislike in the hopes of avoiding a loss on legislation Obama hates. The president is threatening to veto a resolution from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that would ban the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating carbon emissions. But if the president were forced to use his veto to prevent legislation emerging from a Congress in which his own party enjoys substantial majorities, it would be a humiliation for him and for Democrats on Capitol Hill. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and other Democratic leaders are doing what they can to stop it.

2010/06/09: EarthTimes: EU to play for time on climate goals, documents showBrussels – The European Union is set to play for time on a controversial promise to deepen its reductions of greenhouse-gas emissions, putting off any debate until at least October by calling for more studies, internal papers show. In 2007 the bloc agreed to cut emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and to deepen the cut to 30 per cent if other major economies did the same. EU environment ministers had been set to debate the issue Friday, with an EU summit to examine it on June 17. But the summit is only set to “invite the (European) Commission (the EU’s executive) to undertake further analyses and (member states) to examine further the issues raised,” a draft summit statement seen by the German Press Agency dpa reads.

2010/06/07: EurActiv: EU clarifies climate aid planThe EU last week (3 June) took the first step to bring clarity to international climate financing pledges by outlining at the Bonn climate talks how it intends to implement its funding commitment to help developing countries fight global warming. But poor countries are still concerned that the money will be recycled from existing aid budgets.

2010/06/13: ABC(Au): Turnbull attacks Rudd’s climate change ‘cowardice’Former federal Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of being a coward on the issue of climate change. Mr Turnbull presented last night’s Deakin Lecture on climate change in Melbourne and told the gathering Mr Rudd’s about-face on the issue is extraordinary and a let-down to the community. “Right now we have every resource available to us to meet the challenge of climate change except for one, and that is leadership,” Mr Turnbull said.

2010/06/13: ABC(Au): Parties point fingers over shelved climate schemeThe Federal Government and the Greens are arguing over who is to blame for the failure of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) legislation. The decision to shelve the ETS has coincided with a dip in the polls for Labor and a lift for the Greens. But Labor MPs say they will use the election campaign to remind voters that Australia could have had an ETS in place if the Greens had supported the Government late last year.

2010/06/08: Reuters: Japan can seek deeper cuts in CO2 by 2030: panelJapan, the world’s fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, can target deeper cuts in carbon dioxide emissions than first thought, a trade ministry panel said on Tuesday. It said emissions could be cut by 30 percent or more by 2030 from 1990 levels, greater than a figure of 21 percent the government had mentioned last August in its long-term energy outlook.

2010/06/10: CBC: Chevron ‘confident’ in oil drilling safetyChevron Canada is “quite confident” it will not cause a catastrophic oil spill like the one in the Gulf of Mexico, a top executive said Thursday. The company runs exploratory and production operations in Atlantic and northern Canada, as well as in the Alberta oilsands.

2010/06/10: CBC: Protesters target University of Alberta convocationProtesters from British Columbia crashed a University of Alberta convocation in Edmonton on Thursday, objecting to the presence of Enbridge CEO Patrick Daniel, who was receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree from the school. About a dozen protesters wore paper face masks made to resemble Daniel and handed out pamphlets outside the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, where the ceremony was being held. The protesters said they are against the gas company’s plan to build the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline between Edmonton and Kitimat, B.C.

2010/06/09: ENS: Dangers of Third Canadian Tar Sands Pipeline ExposedA 1,660 mile mile-long oil pipeline from Canada proposed to run through five U.S. states would be environmentally hazardous and encourage reliance on the dirtiest of fossil fuels, according to a report released today by the National Wildlife Federation. The Keystone XL pipeline would carry heavy bitumen crude from Alberta’s tar sands to U.S. refineries through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico.

2010/06/09: WpgFP: Prentice talks a confused line on ArcticEvery schoolchild knows that the Arctic and the Antarctic are the most fragile ecosystems in the world — and the “last frontier” in humanity’s ever-more-frantic race to drain the Earth’s store of fossil fuels to the last drop. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Prentice appears to have four positions on Arctic oil and gas exploration: perhaps drill, perhaps preserve, gut environmental regulations, and criticize other countries who might drill.[…]On Dec. 8, 2009, Prentice announced a $5-million feasibility study to designate Lancaster Sound, the eastern portion of the Northwest Passage, a new national marine conservation area. But in April, 2010, Natural Resources Canada’s Geological Survey of Canada submitted a proposal to the Nunavut Impact Review Board to do seismic testing for oil and gas within Lancaster and Jones sounds this summer. In late May, the board gave the green light, ignoring the unanimous opposition from Inuit mayors and hunters.

2010/06/09: CBC: B.C. railway tie energy project seeks homeA group of senior business and community leaders in Prince George is aggressively wooing a proposal to turn old railway ties into energy after the plan was rejected in Kamloops because of air quality concerns. The president of the Prince George downtown Business Association contacted the Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp. when community opposition in Kamloops ended the company’s plan to build the plant to convert creosote-coated rail ties into biofuel, earlier this year. Hugh Nicholson says the city wants the 25 jobs the railway tie gasifier and commercial pilot energy plant would bring.

2010/06/09: CBC: Oil output predicted to grow 54% by 2025 — Oilsands to account for 81%Expansion of Alberta’s oilsands will lead to an increase of 54 per cent in Canadian crude oil production in the next 15 years, according to a forecast released by an industry association Wednesday. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers — which represents Canada’s largest oil companies — forecast that total production will grow from 2.8 million barrels a day this year to 4.3 million barrels a day by 2025. It expects 3.5 million barrels a day, or 81 per cent, of that will come from the oilsands by 2025. The oilsands now produce 1.5 million barrels a day, or 54 per cent of output.

2010/06/09: CBC: Bellingham, Washington votes against Alberta oilsandsA small, environmentally conscious town in upstate Washington has moved one step closer in its bid to stop using fossil fuels derived from the Alberta oilsands for its transportation needs. City councillors in Bellingham, Wash., on Tuesday voted unanimously in favour of a motion calling on the city “to identify ways to shift operations and consumption away from fossil fuelled transportation and specifically high-carbon based Canadian tarsands.”

2010/06/11: CBC: Turbine damage stalls Fundy power experimentTwo blades on a turbine placed in the Bay of Fundy [last November] to test the potential of tidal power have been damaged. Nova Scotia Power and its partner OpenHydro said Friday that video images show two of the blades on the 400-tonne device have broken off. The companies say the unit will be pulled out of the water by late summer or early fall and engineers will examine monitoring devices that may explain why it happened.

2010/06/07: SF Gate: NM high court: Emissions cap proposal may proceedThe New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for a state regulatory panel to resume consideration a petition to establish a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in the state. The justices vacated a lower court ruling that effectively halted the state Environmental Improvement Board’s process for gathering expert testimony and public comments related to an environmental group’s emissions proposal.

2010/06/08: EurActiv: Shale gas not yet game-changer for EuropeShale gas cannot be seen yet as a game changer in Europe as it is in the United States, where roughly 50% of the country’s needs are met by developing unconventional gas. The conclusion was reached by international experts at a public event held in Brussels yesterday (7 June).

Bingo!

2010/06/09: HoustonChronicle:NWE: Wyoming now requires disclosure of fracking chemicalsYesterday, Wyoming regulators approved rules requiring oil and gas drillers to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing — making it the first state to order companies to do so. E&E reported that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission unanimously agreed. Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial industry technique that is often accused of being unsafe and contaminating water supplies.

2010/06/09: CBC: Fungi a possible biodiesel sourceFungi or moulds able to store oil could be economical, non-edible sources for biodiesel production, researchers say. Soybeans, palm, rapeseed and soy are plants that yield biodiesel fuel — but at a cost, say Spanish scientists. They all require farmland, fertilizers and pesticides to grow and if they are in short supply, could increase food prices

2010/06/10: EurActiv: Funding crisis for nuclear fusion project ITERA multi-billion euro international research project has run into deep financial trouble as EU governments scramble to find money to meet spiralling costs. However, with European credibility at stake, officials say there is no question of abandoning the project despite the yawning funding gaps.

2010/06/10: NatureTGB: ITER angers Greens, agreement still out of reachA multinational fusion experiment known as ITER is having a tough time making friends in Europe. Last month, we reported that European partners in the project had failed to come up with the additional billions needed to begin construction in earnest. Now, it appears that Europe’s left-wing Green politicians, at least, would like to see ITER cancelled outright. “I’m now convinced that this is the best moment to stop ITER before construction begins,” Rebecca Harms, the leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, is reported as saying on EurActive.com. Harms is joined by a handful of other green parliamentarians who believe that ITER is too costly and too speculative to warrant support. Rather than spending money on nuclear fusion, the greens would like to see ITER’s funding spent on near-term renewable energy sources.

2010/06/07: CCurrents: Imminent Oil Shortages AheadLess than four months ago, the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) issued a dramatic warning in its 2010 Joint Operating Environment report about an event that is likely to change the world we live in:

By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day.

Comments

The thing that first caught my eye here is the federal inquiry, the Cohen Commission, for understanding the decline of Fraser River sockeye. It’s almost out of place in Global Warming News, because a lot of the focus will be on other topics. There is some intersection, however, that might be worth investigating. This goes beyond the warming of the Fraser River and the consequent migratory mortality experienced by the sockeye.

First, we have politicians, lawyers, judges, and interest groups taking up a lot of time and resources to “get to the bottom of things.” Really, that is what science is for, and it’s too bad the money going to support this stuff (Cohen Commission is probably going to cost over 25 million) isn’t instead directed to scientific study (DFOs science budget keeps getting cut).

That brings up a second point, but this one highlights a difference between AGW and the Fraser sockeye problem. WRT AGW, the fundamental science is quite mature — we know that pumping out too much CO2 has consequences, and politicians, lawyers, judges, and interest groups should be involved in finding solutions. Fraser sockeye are still poorly understood, and the inquiry doesn’t even hope to arrive at solutions.

A third point of intersection is the subjectivity owing to the background of the person. Detection of the trend in both cases is less controversial; attribution to cause in both cases is frequently divorced from reality. For AGW it’s solar output, cosmic rays, ocean cycles, under-water volcanoes, socialist plots, etc that cause the trends in CO2 or temperature. For Fraser sockeye, it’s commercial fishing, native poaching, government plots, etc. All we know is that the freshwater can still produce a lot of young sockeye — fewer come back from the ocean. There are simply too few fish to be caught.

Something is going on in the ocean. I was interested to see climate change among the topics that the Judicial Inquiry will review, and I was a bit surprised to see ocean acidification left out. There is a workshop starting today, organized by the Pacific Salmon Commission, that will address several leading hypotheses for the Fraser sockeye decline. The workshop involves mostly scientists. It’s being held now because the Cohen Commission’s findings will arrive too late. Interestingly the Judicial Inquiry is in the news, but the scientific inquiry is not.